The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) seeks to enhance the research capability of the Border Biomedical Research Center (BBRC in the area of Infectious Diseases. This will be accomplished through (1) support of a new faculty position in Molecular Epidemiology for the study of the origin, transmission, and spread of infectious diseases in the border region; (2) acquisition of selected instrumentation to enhance the competitiveness of specific current research projects; (3) evolution of a Cell Culture and Immunology laboratory from the former Tissue Culture Core facility; (4) support for accomplished visiting research scientists for brief periods of residence to provide training and establish continuing collaborations with BBRC researchers; (5) external research collaborations between BBRC faculty and senior colleagues at other institutions; (6) Proposal Enhancement Awards to support intensive development of previously reviewed proposals to a competitive level; (7) travel support to attend national meetings for presentation of research results, participation in workshops, or consultation with senior colleagues; and (8) augmentation of information retrieval capabilities by supplementing the library's serial subscriptions and monographs in the pathobiology of infectious diseases, and through telecommunications upgrades to better access the world's biomedical literature. These measures are designed to raise the quality of research on infectious diseases at UTEP to a nationally competitive level capable of sustaining independent funding.